So overwhelmed! Please help.

[Zigby]

Please help me make some plans. I am thinking myself round in circles, and getting more muddled with each new thing I read!

I am a lone parent (widowed), I have 2 autistic children, one of whom also has learning disabilities. Both have medical conditions requiring a gluten and dairy free diet.

I have learned from a couple of UK holidays that the only routine that works for my kids is:

Breakfast in hotel restaurant
3 hours max of activity,
Back to hotel room for lunch and a rest.
Another activity in the afternoon.
Back to the hotel to rest for an hour
Early dinner in hotel restaurant
An hour max of play outside after dinner
Return to hotel room to wind down before bed.

My children love rides, but they really adore water parks and swimming. So I need a holiday at a time of year that’s quiet, warm enough for lots of swimming, in a hotel location that’s very quiet but also easy to return to in the event of meltdowns. Plus on the best dining plan to feed them without worrying about food cross contamination etc. My head is spinning!

POFQ has come up repeatedly in my dibb searches on autism, but is there anywhere else I should consider too?

It was my husband’s dream to take them to Disney, but we never managed it as his cancer came back again. So now I'm trying to figure it all out alone, and am beginning to wonder if it’s just a totally crazy idea...

Thank you for any and all help!

[DisneyYoda]

You’ll get a lot of different advice here and mine does not come with your experience.

That said... maybe consider Old Key West resort (OKW). Might sound biased as I have been there on 3 occasions but it does fit the bill in terms of ‘quiet’. I don’t know your budget but it is at the cheaper end of the deluxe accommodation and does come with the full free dining plan if you are booking for next year.

If you could stretch to a 1 bed villa all the better as there is plenty of room. And very flexible sleeping arrangements. The pool is lovely and there is a smaller quieter pool too.

Just be aware that it is a dvc resort and rooms will be released later than other disney accommodation (call disney).

Might be worth looking into. 👍

[jomarise]

Hello, we have an autistic teenager and this is the kind of routine we go for everytime.

We start early, have some breakfast and get to the park early. Don't forget to pick up a DAS pass. We usually stay around 3-4 hours, have lunch and a break at the hotel and then head out again in the evening.

Start by creating a plan on here - the vacation planner. We stay at Vista Cay - not a Disney hotel but it certainly is quiet. One of my daughters favourite places was Wonderworks as it was quiet and she could take her time looking at everything there, so do consider places to visit outside the parks.

The trip will be worth it, you will create some fantastic memories. We go at the end of October, we don't find the crowds too bad, the water park crowd levels were okay as well. Good luck with the planning x

[Galela1986]

Our son is severely autistic (9) with limited speech, global developmental delay approximately 18-24 months in all areas, but loves Orlando. The quietest time we’ve been is early Feb before presidents weekend weather was about 24/27c most days, late May early June was ok too with better weather. For us having a villa makes it tons easier.

[pinkspideruk]

i take my adult autistic niece - we have a similar daily plan - brekkie in room, park until lunch back to resort for a swim and a nap and lunch and then back to park in the afternoon/evening.

We stay for 3 weeks and always do 1 week on site for disney with the qsddp and then 2 weeks off site on i drive so we can do universal (she loves HP) BG (cos i love the coasters) and SW.

We like to g end of Sept/beginning of Oct time as we get the Halloween decorations, the parks are relatively quiet as al the kids are back in school and you get less of the S american groups in the parks and the weather remains warm.

Disney are excellent with people with additional needs, if your in the park and you feel you need a time out you can go to the first aid centres which have cool quiet spaces which are accessible to people who need them, the DAP will help you as well.

[Johngela13]

Hi😊. I cannot help with the autism queries but one thing to think about is whether you want to drive in Orlando. If not then you are probably best staying ‘on site’ if you plan multiple park visits during the day to enable rests. Then, if you also wanted to do Universal, you could spend the last few days on site at universal too.
BR
J

[Zigby]

Thank you all so much. I definitely do not want to drive, but would consider splitting our holiday between two hotels to be close to different parks. Lots to think about still!

[bex85chelt]

Originally Posted by Zigby

Thank you all so much. I definitely do not want to drive, but would consider splitting our holiday between two hotels to be close to different parks. Lots to think about still!

See more...

If you want to have the dining plan you can only have this in one hotel as you need to buy your tickets as part of the package.

[Susu]

Hi Zigby. I would also recommend Old Key West, as DisneyYoda has said above. It is very peaceful and we love the quiet pool on Turtle Pond.

Both Disney water parks are easy to get to on the buses. We love staying onsite as the transportation is so easy to use and so convenient for being able to get back to your resort for down time.

I appreciate that planning a holiday like this must be really daunting. But the Dibb is a fantastic resource and there are so many people on here ready to help with advice.

Hope you all have an amazing time.

[bernard301]

while you may not want to drive in orlando it could well be worth considering a villa in a gated community with water park close to Disney. That way you will have access to a water park, your own pool, play areas and a "home from home experience". Plus having a number of separate rooms will give you that all important respite in the evenings too